The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Monday accused the inspector general and other officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs of withholding reports from his panel, despite pledges to be transparent.

The Treasury Department wants to make sure small players aren't left out of potential contracting opportunities. That's why it put out a guide for small, women-owned and minority-owned businesses. The guide gives them tips for pursuing Treasury contractings. Jose Arrieta is the director of Treasury's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to talk about the guide.

Four years after a push from the President, the federal government is hiring employees with disabilities at a rate that's higher than it's been in decades, according to a new report from the Office of Personnel Management.

The Treasury Department is working toward publishing the first ever Shared Services Catalogue for financial management. It's due out in early 2015. It will list all the services offered to federal agencies, the price range and what's in and out of scope under the financial management shared services program. Adilson Jardim, senior sales consultant for Oracle, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to give a few examples of how shared services not only saved billions of dollars for his company but set the stage for immense future growth.

Two Treasury agencies have managed to make big gains in hiring veterans. In 2014, half of new hires at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Mint were veterans. Now, veterans make up about one-third of employees at each of the two agencies. How'd they do it? Rosie Rios, Treasurer of the United States, shared details with Tom Temin on the Federal Drive.

The Treasury Department isn't getting ready for the holiday buying season with its new catalog of shared services. Rather, Treasury is opening the door for industry to participate in the governmentwide effort. In his biweekly feature, Inside the Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller writes about Treasury's plans. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the next step to move the government toward shared services for financial management.

Christina Ho, the executive director for data transparency in the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, said Treasury developed short-and long-term plans to improve the spending portal. She said DATA Act requirements fit well in the department's strategy.

The Treasury Department has heard the complaints about the USASpending.gov portal: it's hard to use, the data quality is poor, etc. Treasury inherited the portal in February from the General Services Administration. It already has short- and long-term plans to improve the federal spending website. In part one of their interview, Christina Ho, executive director for data transparency in the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, told Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about the portal's improvement strategy.